Contents

Reflection

The purpose of the assignment was to familiarize us with scientific papers and specifically this scientific paper which we will be working with for part of this semester. It was meant to get us used to reading and analyzing data from experiments and graphs.

It was easiest for me to understand the purpose and procedure of the experiment. I have referenced papers like this one for other work I have done and am familiar with the layout and many of the terms used in the paper.

What was most challenging was really putting the heavy science of the paper into simpler form in my outline.

Laura Terada Week 3 Journal

Reflection

What was the purpose of this assignment?

The purpose of this assignment was to help us to be comfortable with reading scientific papers and reports. Moreover, it allowed us to understand scientific data in the form of graphs. The questions we were required to answer in our assignment made us think about the overall purpose of the study, why it is relevant, and what implications it has for future research.

What aspect of this assignment came most easily to you?

It was somewhat easy for me to understand the background information and the overall purpose of the experiment. I understood what aspects of nitrogen metabolism they were testing for and the reason for it.

What aspect of this assignment was the most challenging for you?

The most challenging aspect was interpreting the data. There were a lot of variables being tested for (genes, enzymes, biomass, respiration, etc.), and so bringing all the data together to get a coherent conclusion was difficult for me.

What (yet) do you not understand?

I'm still unsure how all the variables that were being tested for work together to get the conclusion. It seemed like the authors tested for different parts of nitrogen metabolism to show how ammonia concentration alters this process; however, I'm still unsure on how all the components relate to each other.